New York, D.C. Sue Firms for Asbestos Cleanup

New York City and the District of Columbia have joined the
lengthening list of cities that have filed multimillion-dollar lawsuits
against asbestos companies in an attempt to recoup the costs of
removing asbestos from school buildings.

New York's city government and board of education last month jointly
brought a $250-million state-court action against some 60 manufacturers
and distributors of asbestos. The suit seeks to recover money that
schools have already spent or will spend for abatement.

The District of Columbia last month sued asbestos companies for $400
million to recoup the money that city anticipates spending on asbestos
cleanup in 162 school and administrative buildings. The city is also
suing for punitive damages. Superintendent of Schools Floretta D.
McKenzie has asked the city council for a supplemental appropriation of
$5.8 million to finance abatement activities this school year.

New Wave of Suits

In the last few years, numerous school districts and cities,
including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, have sued asbestos
manufacturers to recover the costs of containing or removing
school-building asbestos.

The latest spate of suits follows the October decision of a federal
district judge in Philadelphia to grant class-action status to a
lawsuit brought by several school districts against 54 asbestos
manufacturers. (See Education Week, Oct. 10, 1984.)

U.S. District Judge James M. Kelly's decision created a case in
which all schools in the country are represented unless they choose not
to be. A number of districts had been waiting for the decision before
filing lawsuits of their own. If the judge had approved a "mandatory"
rather than an optional class, school districts would not have been
able to file individual suits.

Related Actions

Among other recent developments involving asbestos in schools:

Gov. Thomas H. Kean of New Jersey signed legislation last week that
provides $10 million to clean up asbestos in the state's public
schools. According to Paul G. Wolcott, a spokesman for the Governor,
the measure requires districts to meet standards proposed by the
Governor's Asbestos Policy Commission. (See Education Week, Oct. 17,
1984.) Those standards tell schools how to inspect for asbestos, when
asbestos is hazardous, and what steps to take to clean up asbestos in
their buildings. Mr. Wolcott said a final version of the standards is
expected shortly.

A task force appointed by Ohio's superintendent of public
instruction, Franklin B. Walter, has found that 2,800 of 4,700 Ohio
schools have significant quantities of friable or potentially friable
asbestos. The task force recommends that all asbestos be removed from
schools by 1990, at an estimated cost of $200 million. The legislature
is consider-ing a bill that would set removal deadlines and provide $60
million in the next two years for cleanup.

Lawyers for the Cincinnati and Cleveland school districts are also
pursuing a class action on behalf of all primary and secondary schools
in Ohio.

Recovering Damages

Washington State's superintendent of public instruction, Frank B.
Brouillet, has requested that the state attorney general initiate a
single action for recovering damages on behalf of schools with
asbestos. The superintendent is also asking the legislature for some
$20 million for asbestos removal, according to William H. Daley, Mr.
Brouillet's administrative assistant.

The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, an affiliate of the
American Federation of Teachers, plans to sue more than 40 asbestos
manufacturers and contractors for funds to create a medical-monitoring
program for employees exposed to asbestos in the city's schools. The
union's executive board voted last month to bring the class action
before the city's common pleas court.

E.P.A. Funds

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency has mailed
application forms to every public-school district and private-school
organization in the country as part of the Asbestos School Hazard
Abatement Act of 1984. Qualified schools will be selected to receive
grants and loans to abate their asbestos problems from the $50 million
allocated by the Congress for the program.

The agency announced last month that it would distribute the money
to the nation's schools by June 6. Susan Vogt, director of the agency's
asbestos-action program, said the funds will be distributed to schools
most in need of help.

The epa has suggested that local education agencies submit completed
applications to their governor or his or her designees by Feb. 15. The
governors must then establish a priority list of schools in their
states based on the existing or potential threat from asbestos and
submit their lists to the epa by March 15. Funds may not be requested
for schools that completed abatement projects prior to January 1984,
according to the epa

Ms. Vogt said that in determining grant allocations, the agency will
use such criteria as the cost-effectiveness of the proposed project,
the ability of the school to pay for asbestos removal or containment,
and the degree to which the project will reduce exposure to
asbestos.

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